Conventional "Texas rig" fishing lures employ a hook that is embedded in a plastic worm such that the eyelet of the hook is located toward the head and the point of the hook is located toward the tail of the worm. A lead weight sinker is used to assist in casting the hook and lure and dropping these items toward the bottom of the water being fished. The fisherman then attracts the fish by flipping, jigging, reeling in or otherwise moving the line so that the plastic worm simulates the movement of a live worm. Texas rigs employ both slip and fixed sinkers. A slip sinker typically includes a groove or channel that permits it to slide along the line, whereas a fixed sinker is fixedly attached to the lure or line.
Recently, a number of features have been developed to improve the performance of Texas rigs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,663 discloses the use of a tubular plastic insert designed to remedy the problem of frayed fishing lines often exhibited by traditional slip sinkers. Additionally, generally bullet shaped fixed sinkers have been developed to reliably carry the lure to the bottom through water filled with debris such as weeds and water lilies. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,586 a helical coil spring is attached to the bullet-shaped sinker. This spring allows the sinker weight to be screwed onto the head of the plastic worm. This device also employs the tubular insert described above.
Unfortunately, the preceding implement often hinders proper setting of the hook. The insert and the spring are composed of relatively rigid materials that tend to restrict movement of the eyelet portion of the hook through the lure. As a result, following an apparent strike, when the fisherman pulls on the line to set the hook in the fish, the pointer portion of the hook may be unable to pierce fully through the worm and set in the fish. Moreover, this sinker does not reliably dislodge or release from the worm after a fish strikes. The coil spring is wound a considerable distance (at least 8 turns) into the worm and has a conical shape. As a result, the sinker tends to remain lodged in the worm even after the fish strikes. This may cause the line to which the sinker is attached to break as the fish is reeled in by the fisherman. In addition, because the sinker is effectively fixed, it does not provide nearly as satisfactory a feel as is provided by slip sinkers.
The above disadvantages are largely overcome by the sinker disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,094. That device employs a flexible tubular insert that collapses to allow the hook to properly set. Additionally, the sinker effectively releases from the worm after the hook is set. As a result, the improved feel of a slip sinker is provided, while the remaining advantages of the coil spring and tubular insert are maintained. Nonetheless, although this apparatus is the most effective known to date, on occasion it can still exhibit certain disadvantages. In particular, the helical coil spring tends to permanently damage the plastic worm when it pulls out of the worm. This is apparently due to the relatively tight attachment between the worm and the spring. Additionally, the device of Pat. No. 5,152,094 can be relatively intricate and tedious to manufacture.